Levantine

This is a homeowners section, but this tree’s actual owners are unknown. AFAIK, it's a legal grey area. In the neighbourhood, some people are convinced that the tree is a major hazard, so it must be cut down. Adding to the complexity: The tree services available are fairly well-equipped, well-experienced, — and without a clue or interest in actual tree care. Yes. It may be strange to hear, but the chances of getting a professional arborist are nil. What, if anything, would you tell the local residents? The tree service? Pic 4.: The tree has been very neglected. 5.: 6.: 7.: 8.: 9.: 10. : Perhaps marking some limbs for cutting would be useful. 11. : 12. : 13.:

I will, thanks.

In the interest of truth if nothing else, I'm updating the situation : the problem with two of the cypresses had returned, as shown bellow :

A year after I started this thread, I am reporting that the discussed cypresses are all upright, that they look healthy, and have been such throughout the autumn and winter periods. Interventions made on them: none.

Everything considered, it might be optimal to just keep them in size. Say, about two meters height. Giving up on them is demoralising, transporting them financially unrealistic. Topping them is ugly and distasteful but 1) it’s arizona cypresses 2) they will perform exactly the hedge function for which they were planted. & Thanks for the comments!

Here is an update: After posting the message here, I didn't check for responses. Being fairly depressed, I dreaded finding the responses, or the lack of them, depressing me further. After a week or so, I looked at the cypresses more closely. Wow, there was such a gap between the trunk and the surrounding soil, ... clay soil, at surface level ... Far more than I recall from the last inspection. For a first time, I figured out an elementary scenario of how some trees come to lean: It's likely that the rains have softened the soil, which is clay, and the winds have pushed the tree, which in turn pushed the clay away, gradually creating this 'hole.' I'm telling this rather dumb story because of the possibility that somebody may learn something from it, either about trees, or about people and what they can do to trees. I collected some gravel and soil from nearby, and with it (a) filled the gap and (b) placed some of it on the surface by the leaning side of the tree. With my hands I pushed the trunk to a vertical position, and with my feet pushed the dirt (b) in the created opening. Then, of course, I pressed the soil, added more dirt, and pressed it some more. Repeated the process with all the other, less leaning cypresses. Now they are all straight. After several days the tallest cypress started to lean once again, slightly. I just repeated the procedure. I'm aware that these are very basic remarks, perhaps revoltingly so.

In front of my apartment building there are cypresses that, as far as I can tell, are indistinguishable from Arizona cypress. Near the end of this winter - I'm in a temperate zone in Europe - there was a rapid weather change from quasi-spring to snowstorm, and then they sloped a little - except the tallest of them, that sloped at an angle of about forty-five degrees(!). No, I don't have a photo. I checked the ground: the mulch is *not* too close to the trunk. And, to the best of my judgement, there is neither too much nor too little mulch. The background story is that these cypresses, left on their own, were completely stunted for a decade and in an increasingly bad shape until 3-4 years ago. Then I intervened and started to mulch them. Since then, they grew rapidly. This highest, the one I'm discussing here, is nearly four meters, c. eleven feet tall. Back to the present time: Worried about its steep angle, I straightened the tree with a rope which I tied to a nearby fence. I did that so that the cypress remains sloped at some 15 degrees from the vertical. My estimate was that it's good to be left at a moderate angle, 1) not to play God too much, and 2) to detect an improvement more easily. Several days later the cypress had straightened slightly. It's a public space. It can't be fenced off. Someone took/ stole the rope. After a period of intense rains and wind, the cypress again bent at c. 45 degrees. The rope episode - repeated itself. All kinds of comments are welcome. I love trees. My experience with caring for them is modest. Edit: I should add that the bending isn't more or less evenly spread across the whole trunk and making an arc. It's by and large at the basis of the trunks.

I just identified it: crape myrtle "Dynamite" Today I went back on the location to look for additional clues. Among other things, I noticed that on the wooden pole by the tree there is a tied tape, and on the tape there is some text printed: "LAGESTROEMIE DYNAMITE" Then I duckduckgo-ed it.

It has these 'nuts' shown on the picture. In the image's top center you can see something reddish: it's a half-opened flower. Currently, there are very few flowers. Since my camera is still on repair, I'll continue with verbal description. These trees - currently their height is about ten feet - have a conventional tree shape. Trunk surface - I forgot to take a special look - smooth rather than rough. Their leaves are oval, about an inch long, and currently red. Bright red rather than dark.

Yes, that's it. Thanks.

Hi, It is a quite common tree with an obvious aesthetic value. Its growth in my area* is as if composed of two 'floors': one consists of thin stems growing in close proximity to each other (a feet or few feet distance) and reaching a height of 7-10 ft (/ 2-3 m), and the other is a taller tree with a crown rising at almost exactly double the former height (about 6 meters). One specific thing: the top of the canopy can be quite flat and nearly horizontal in places, for (perhaps due to lack of water) there the leafs are droopy , and the stem on which they hang on has also drooped to an almost horizontal level. NB: 1. No cuttings have been made for the purpose of making this post. 2. I can't provide a pic of a whole tree because my camera is on repair. (*) SE Europe.